"Gravity Falls public access TV. Beats just staring at a blank wall! Barely."
— Stan, Gravity Falls, "TV 2
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A (mostly) Forgotten Trope largely killed off by YouTube and the rise of other video-based social media.
Before the internet, it could be difficult for a random member of the public to broadcast their opinion as widely as possible. They might have been limited to writing a Strongly Worded Letter to their local newspaper or phoning in to their favourite Shock Jock’s talk radio show. However, one other option might have been to make a public access TV show. This was a type of programme where networks would offer a person or organisation not normally involved with the media the technical resources they needed to produce a programme while leaving editorial control in the hands of the individual.
These programmes were truly public access, meaning anyone off the street was able to participate regardless of their resources, talent, or production knowledge. This meant Sturgeon's Law was in full-force, with an overwhelming majority of programs falling in the So Bad, It's Good range: comedy sketches often relied on Stylistic Suck and Surreal Humor, while talk shows pulled Wisdom from the Gutter. With this being the only constant, public access television fostered a chaotic "anything goes" atmosphere that made it worth watching for this alone.
These programs and channels still exist in the US — indeed they have been mandated by Federal law since 1984. However, since the Internet makes broadcasting more convenient for anybody note , the practice has greatly diminished since its heyday in the '80s and '90s.
Compare Sermonette, where the member of the public being given airtime is a clergyperson delivering a brief religious message. Also compare Kitschy Local Commercial where a person unaccustomed to appearing on TV makes a cheap advert with limited resources to promote their business.
Examples:
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Live-Action TV
- The BBC's Community Programmes Unit oversaw these programmes from the 1970s up until the 2000s, namely Open Door, Open Space and the online Video Nation project.
- Bernie Sanders had the public access show Bernie Speaks with the Community during his time as mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
- ITV regions also ran some community programmes in local slots:
- Carlton: Your Shout
- Thames Television: Speak for Yourself
- Gaming in the Clinton Years was edited from various segments of a larger public access show in Maryland, Flights of Fantasy.
- Late Stage Live airs on public access television in New York City but is subsequently uploaded on YouTube, making this a rare 2020s example of the medium.
In-Universe Examples:
Film — Live-Action
- Do I Sound Gay: The film includes clips from a public access TV show that director David Thorpe made with his friends, which appears to have been a Sketch Comedy about female tennis players.
- The Princess Diaries: Lilly hosts her own public access show called Shut Up and Listen.
Live-Action TV
- Bill Nye the Science Guy: Various episodes included clips of a fake public access TV show called Community Access '97, usually featuring the students of the High Dilly School getting up to Bad "Bad Acting" mischief related to the episode's topic.
- Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule is made to resemble a public access TV show that was made on a shoestring budget and airs at the coveted 4:30 AM time slot.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: In "Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire", Charlie and Mac try to become famous by launching a news show on a public access TV channel, but it goes disastrously. Dennis and Dee also come across a public access show that's uncut footage of a man in his underwear dancing in front of a green screen. They later get high on ecstasy and meet the dancing man, who films them dancing while wearing diapers. It ends up on the show, much to their surprise and embarrassment.
- Letterkenny: In the seventh season, Wayne, Daryl, and Squirrely Dan host a public access show called "Crack an Ag" in which they give agricultural advice to callers. They also argue with the callers, waste time between calls, and, eventually decide to cancel the show and get drunk in the middle of its last episode.
- Newhart: WPIV is ostensibly a professionally run TV station (albeit one based in a tiny Vermont town), but its management will air practically anything.
- Saturday Night Live:
- The "Wayne's World" sketches and the feature film adaptation feature the titular show, which is just two friends making goofy jokes in a basement.
- During their second-ever appearance, Hans and Franz's show is briefly mentioned to be a local public access show operating out of Waterbury, Connecticut. This is never brought up again in any of their other appearances.
- The Goth Talk segments center around a Tampa Bay public access show run by goth teenagers Circe Nightshade and Azrael Abyss (whose real names are Stephanie and Todd) centered around discussing topics regarding the subculture. However, the show always ends up getting derailed by Azrael’s Jerk Jock brother, Glen, who goes out of his way to humiliate the hosts and their guests.
- The "Perspectives with Lionel Osbourne" sketches are about an early morning political talk show which primarily deals with African-American issues. However, Osbourne is generally oblivious about his guests' backgrounds and will periodically interrupt them to tell the audience what time it is (e.g. "If you're just tuning in, it's 4:54 in the A.M., and you're watching 'Perspectives'...").
- Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: Many of the series' sketches are meant to resemble public access TV, such as Kitschy Local Commercials, the Channel 5 Married News segments, excerpts from low-budget films, and segments like Brule's Rules with Dr. Steve Brule (which later got spun off into its own show).
- World's Dumbest...: One episode focuses on TV shows; several of them are public access and of really poor quality.
Video Games
- In Project Zomboid, one of the in-game TV channels, Life and Living TV, is strongly implied to be a local public access station. Its programs teach your character various survival skills like cooking, carpentry, fishing, farming, foraging, and trapping.
- In The Sims 4, the City Living expansion adds a public access station to the list of in-game TV stations. Watching it can cause your Sims to get a Playful moodlet called "Public Access Weirdness" upon watching the strange content that is broadcast from that station.
Western Animation
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: The episode "Broadcast Blues" has the elementary school host a public access TV show. Jimmy tries to make an educational show about science, but nobody finds it interesting. Cindy and Libby retool it to be more about dancing and singing with minimal science. At the end, the show becomes a puppet show hosted by Sheen, as the new network president doesn't like science, music or dancing.
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: The episode "Cable Caper" involves Fat Albert and the gang using public access television to raise awareness of the Gibsons, an elderly couple at risk of losing their home.
- Gravity Falls: The shorts "TV 1" and "TV 2" are based around a character (Mabel and Stan, respectively) watching Gravity Falls public access TV. It's clear that they'll let literally anyone on it — highlights include a poorly edited Kitschy Local Commercial for the Mystery Shack, a reality show hosted by Lil' Gideon about his life in prison, and a really bad PSA about peer pressure made by officers Blubs and Durland, who play all four characters themselves. Some proper in-universe TV shows still appear on the channel (namely, the detective show Duck-Tective and the talk show Why You Ackin' So Cray-Cray?), but it's mostly really bad locally-made stuff.
Stan: Gravity Falls public access TV. Beats just staring at a blank wall! Barely.
- The Simpsons: In the episode "Homer Badman", Homer is accused of sexually assaulting a babysitter (in reality, he was retrieving a rare gummy that she had sat on from the seat of her pants) and has his name dragged through the mud for it. With nowhere else to turn to to try to clear his name, Homer makes a plea on Springfield's public access station for anything that could possibly exonerate him. As it turns out, Groundskeeper Willie had a camera in the area, and the footage from it clears Homer's name.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In the episode "Tentacle Vision," after Squidward's favorite show is cancelled by a local rock musician, he gets a show on public access TV, and calls it "Squidward Chat." When Spongebob wants to know what's going on, he forces himself and Patrick into Squidward's house, and after they refuse to leave, he gives them jobs and are soon joined by: Mr. Krabs, who uses the show as free advertising for the Krusty Krab; Pearl wanting to show off her cheerleading moves; Plankton trying to get people to go to the Chum Bucket instead; and more people showing up when they see they can be on TV. After Squidward tries to kick everyone out of his house, the station's producer tells Squidward the show's a hit but there's not enough money in the budget, so he gets rid of mostly everyone, including Squidward. The show is renamed to "Squidward's Houseparty," with the rocker as the starting role, Spongebob and Patrick as back up musicians, Mr. Krabs handling advertising, Pearl and Sandy as back up dancers, and Plankton in charge of special effects. As for Squidward, he just got stuck with the bill.